THE CIVIL WAR

1861-1865

THE CIVIL WAR• After SC seceded in Dec. 1860, 6 more

states joined them by Feb. 1861.• Confederate States of America:• Capital city: Montgomery, Ala.

• Confederate Constitution– Legalized slavery, Presidential term 6 yrs, line-item

veto,– 2/3s approval needed to amend it., states could

nullify laws,– No importation of slaves,

– Jefferson Davis-President– Alexander Stephens—Vice-President

• THE UNION

– PRESIDENT: ABRAHAM LINCOLN

– VICE-PRESIDENT: HANNIBAL HAMLIN

– CAPITAL CITY: WASHINGTON, DC

– CABINET:• WILLIAM SEWARD-SEC. OF STATE

• EDWIN STANTON- SEC. OF WAR

• CHIEF JUSTICE TANEY FORCED TO RETIRE

– 1st INAUGURAL ADDRESS:

• WASHINGTON, DC

START OF THE WAR

• Ft. Sumter –April 12, 1861• Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers.• More states secede: • Capital moved to Richmond, Va.• Lincoln asks Lee to lead his army. Lee

declines.• Lincoln appointed Irwin McDowell to lead the

army.

COMPARISON OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAYCATEGORY NORTH SOUTH

POPULATION 25,000,000 9,000,000 (40% slaves)

INDUSTRY/ 95% factories Tredegar Iron WorksAGRICULTURE food crops 1 metal forge, 2 gun factories

cotton, tobacco

RAILROAD 3 x mileage of south, Standard State gauge MILEAGE gauge

MONEY Greenbacks, gold supply No backing

GOVERNMENT Established 1776 No foreign recognition 1861

NAVY Naval officers stayed loyal Very few100,000 sailors

MILITARY Winfield Scott, George McClellan Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jack- LEADERS Irwin McDowell, Ulysses Grant, son, Jeb Stuart, PTG Beau-

William T. Sherman, Phil Sheridan regard, James Longstreet

CAUSE Save the Union, free the slaves Southern Independence

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES• Union’s major weaknesses:

– Over confidence,– Long lines of supply and communications– Fight an offensive war

• Southern Advantages:– Defending home and way of life– “Better fighters”– Better Generals

• Weakness:– Cotton Diplomacy

• Civil War Names– North= Union, Federals, Yankees, “Billy Yank”, Blue, USA– South=Confederacy, Rebs, Rebels, “Johnny Reb”, Gray,

CSA– North= Army of the Potomac, Army of the Cumberland– South= Army of Northern Virginia, Army of the Tennessee

• Names of Battles– North= closest physical feature (streams, creeks, churches,

mountain)– South= closest village or town

• 1st major battle of the Civil War– 1st Bull Run (Manassas) Virginia Railroad center July 1861

• Witnessed by 1000s of spectators anxious to watch only battle of Civil War!!

• North-Gen. Irwin McDowell, 35,000 troops• South- PGT Beauregard, 22, 000 troops, with 11,000

reinforcements led by Gen. Thomas Jackson• Earned nickname “Stonewall” at this battle• “Great Skeedaddle” US army routed and retreated toward Washington,

DC– Results:

» South confident that they can win the war.» North realizes war will not be 90 days long» Lincoln replaces McDowell with George McClellan.

UNION PLAN TO WIN THE WAR!!• Gen. George McClellan—Army of the Potomac

– Brilliant motivator, organizer and trainer of troops– Poor field commander and overly cautious– Spent next 9 months training the Northern army

• Anaconda Plan (Winfield Scott--1862)– 1. naval Blockade of Confederate coastline– 2. Secure the Mississippi River all the way to New Orleans. – Split CSA in half. – Cutting off “breadbasket” from the East.– 3. Keep constant military pressure on Richmond, Va.– 4. Attack the Confederate mid-section—Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi.

• Battles of 1861 and 1862– Missouri pacified by Gen. John C. Fremont– Northern Arkansas fell to Union forces– Port Royal, SC, fell to Union navy.– Feb. 1862 Ft. Donelson, Tennessee, and Ft. Henry, Ky, taken by Gen. Grant

• Earns nickname “Unconditional surrender”, drinking problem first exposed– Mar. 1862—Blockade in place, NC coast secured.

• Battle of the USS Monitor v. CSS Merrimac (CSS Virginia) • 1st modern naval battle Ironclad ships, Merrimac withdrew.

BATTLES OF 1861-1862 CONTINUED

• April 1862 Savannah harbor fell to Union forces.• April 1862 New Orleans fell to Adm. David Farragut, occupied by Gen.

Benjamin Butler (Union)—slaves as contraband of war.

• Nov. 1861 “Trent Affair” USS San Jacinto, HMS Trent John Slidell

• April 1862 McClellan begins “Peninsular Campaign”– Objective: – 1. Capture Richmond by outflanking Confederate defenses from the

Atlantic coast.---110,000 men vs. Gen J. Johnston’s 40,000

– Results:– 1. McClellan wins Battle of 7 Pines—Union army 25 miles east of

Richmond. Gen. Johnston wounded. – 2. Pres. Davis replaces Johnson with Gen. Robert E. Lee.

3. June 1862 Lee splits forces, sends Stonewall Jackson with 15,000 troops up Shenandoah Valley toward Washington. “Foot Cavalry”.4. McClellan sends 20,000 toward Washington, Jackson doubles back and he and Lee attack McClellan’s positions Battle of 7 Days before Richmond.5. After fierce fighting and heavy casualties on both sides, McClellan retreats to Norfolk. Richmond saved, McClellan fired and replaced by Gen. John Pope.

WAR ON THE HOMEFRONT 1862• North

– Economics: 1861—mild depression: closed cotton mills, bank failures.

• 1862--Economy improved once the war started being fought on large scale.—wartime industries.

– Politics: Many Democrats opposed the war but were loyal to USA.

– Some were Radicals:• 1. Sons of Liberty and Knights of the Golden Circle=

Copperheads, sympathized with the South• 2. Lincoln suspended Habeas Corpus to deal with

them.– Imprisoned 10,000 people during war without ever

putting them on trial—leading Copperhead Rep. Clement Vallandigham

– D-Ohio)

Foreign Affairs: England and France did not officially recognize CSA but supported it materially.

• Construction of CSS Alabama• Relations with England had been deteriorating in 1862

—near war-- Trent Affair.

SOUTHERN HOMEFRONT 1861-1862

• ECONOMICS:– Inflation—7000% by war’s end– Union blockade created economic hardships felt

throughout the South.– Food and material shortages– Loss of slaves

• POLITICALLY:– Cotton Diplomacy

• Cotton Embargo failed– Famine– Surplus of Egyptian and Indian cotton

– Conscription Law• Unfair to poor• Rich could hire substitutes• Owner of 20 or more slaves and certain

occupations…draft exempt• “Twenty Negro Law”

– “Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight”

WAR IN THE WEST 1862• Union army in the West= Army of the Cumberland• Southern army in the West= Army of Tennessee• (Union east=Army of the Potomac)• (Southern east=Army of Northern Virginia)

• Gen. US Grant’s plan 1. capture Memphis, from there work south toward New Orleans 2. This would complete 2 parts of the Anaconda Plan—splitting of Confederacy and the capturing of the River.

• BATTLE OF SHILOH (Pittsburg Landing, Tenn)– April 6, 7 1862 Grant v. AS Johnston, Beauregard– 24,000 casualties in 2 days, Union victory despite suffering

more casualties—War of Attrition, win opened the way to the Mississippi.

– Many called for Grant’s resignation-- “Butcher”– First modern land battle—– repeating rifles (Union cavalry)– goal to kill men not to capture a place– bayonet charges now were suicide

WAR IN THE EAST 1862• 2nd Bull Run

– Aug. 29-30 Gen. Pope v. Jackson and Longstreet– Union attempts 3rd invasion of Richmond.– South wins decisive victory.– Lincoln fires Pope and replaces him with McClellan.

• Lee invades the North • Goal: to flank Washington, DC and attack it from the

northwest.– Unexpectedly a Union soldier finds Lee’s battle plans.

Special Order 191– Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg, Md.)

• Sept. 15-18 Gen. McClellan v. Lee• McClellan drove Lee from the battlefield but did

pursue him.• Single bloodiest day of the Civil War Sept. 17—

26,000 casualties• Tactically the battle was a draw, but Lee retreated

back into Virginia, strategically Lincoln viewed as a victory.

• McClellan fired and replaced by Gen. Ambrose Burnside

EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION• Northern view of slavery had become more

abolitionist like by 1862.• 1. Lincoln concluded that slavery needed to be

abolished.• 2. Lincoln’s first plan -- “compensated

emancipation” but it was defeated in Congress.• 3. Lincoln then turned to his war powers as a way of

using slavery as an agent to weaken the Southern government.

• 4. In order for it to have meaning he needed a great Union victory:

--Antietam was that victory. 5. Sept. 1862—Lincoln issued the Emancipation

ProclamationIt would become effective on Jan 1, 1863.It simply stated: “all persons held as slaves within any States in rebellion against the US shall be forever free.”It legalized what the Union army had already been doing.It also kept England and France out of the war.

• Slaves in the border states were not freed.• It changed the reason for the war: End Slavery.• Freedmen were encouraged to join the Union army.• 54th Massachusetts formed—attack on Battery

Wagner in 1864.

• Resistance to the Emancipation Proclamation was stiff:– 1. Increased Southern determination to win.– 2. Poor immigrant northerners resented it. Freedmen

would now move North and compete with them for jobs.– 3. The Democratic Party opposed it and won

Congressional seats in 1862 election.

• Draft Law:– March 1863 Northern Conscription Law. Similar to

Southern version. $300 Commutation Fee.– Irish immigrants resented being drafted to fight a war

to free slaves so they could come and take their jobs.– Spring and summer 1863 NY City riots over the draft.

100s killed.

OTHER MAJOR BATTLES OF 1862

• Fredericksburg (Virginia)– Dec. 13, 1862 Burnside v. Lee– Union attempts 4th invasion of Richmond– Union attempts a frontal assault on the heavily

fortified Confederate position at Marye’s Heights, suffers heavy casualties.

– Southern victory, Union casualties 3-1 v. Confederate

– Lincoln fires Burnside and replaces him with Joseph Hooker.

• Battles of 1863 “Year of Decision”• Chancellorsville (Virginia)

– Union attempts 5th invasion of Richmond—Lee’s “Greatest Victory”

– May 1-4 Hooker v. Lee

1863 continued

• Chancellorsville contd.– Stonewall Jackson killed– Lincoln demotes Hooker and puts Gen. George Meade as Cmdr.

Army of the Potomac– Lee decides on 2nd invasion of North—– Harrisburg, Pa. Important northern communications center.

Telegraph lines from DC, NYC, Philadelphia and Chicago met there

• Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi– May 22 Grant and Sherman begin the siege of last major

Confederate stronghold on Mississippi River– Vicksburg defended by Gen. Pemberton (from Pa.)

• Battle of Gettysburg (Pa.)– July 1-July 3 Meade v. Lee– Greatest battle in American history.– The Turning Point of the war for the North.– 3rd day—Pickett’s Charge “High-water Mark” of the Confederacy– Joshua Chamberlain, George Pickett, JEB Stuart– 50,000 casualties– The most decisive Union victory of the war.

• Fall of Vicksburg– July 4 Pemberton surrenders to Grant

– Sept. 9 Chattanooga falls to Union forces led by Gen Rosecrans—Union controls all of Tennessee.

– Sept. 19, 20 Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia)– Gen Bragg v. Gen Rosecrans– Confederate counterattack– South had North outnumbered, South won.– Union army retreated back to Chattanooga.– Last Southern victory.

– Nov. 23-25 Battle of Lookout MountainGrant v. Bragg “Battle above the Clouds”First large-scale use of troop transport by train.Union victory, Bragg retreats toward Atlanta.

Nov. 29 Lincoln issues Gettysburg AddressDefines the meaning of the war.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

FOUR SCORE AND SEVEN YEARS AGO OUR FATHERS BROUGHT FORTH ON THIS CONTINENT, A NEW NATION, CONCEIVED IN LIBERTY, AND DEDICATED TO THE PROPOSITION THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL. NOW WE ARE ENGAGED IN A GREAT CIVIL WAR TESTING WHETHER THAT NATION, OR ANY NATION, SO CONCEIVED AND SO DEDICATED, CAN LONG ENDURE.

WE ARE MET ON A GREAT BATTLEFIELD OF THAT WAR. WE HAVE COME TO DEDICATE A PORTION OF THAT FIELD, AS A FINAL RESTING PLACE FOR THOSE WHO HERE GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT THAT NATION MIGHT LIVE. IT IS ALTOGETHER FITTING AND PROPER THAT WE SHOULD DO THIS.

BUT IN A LARGER SENSE, WE CANNOT DEDICATE—WE CANNOT CONSECRATE—WE CANNOT HALLOW– THIS GROUND. THE BRAVE MEN, LIVING AND DEAD, WHO STRUGGLED HERE, HAVE CONSECRATED IT FAR ABOVE OUR POOR POWER TO ADD OR DETRACT. THE WORLD WILL LITTLE NOTE, OR LONG REMEMBER WHAT WE SAY HERE, BUT IT CAN NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID HERE. IT IS FOR US THE LIVING, RATHER, TO BE DEDICATED HERE TO THE UNFINISHED WORK WHICH THEY WHO FOUGHT HERE HAVE THUS FAR SO NOBLY ADVANCED. IT IS RATHER FOR US TO BE HERE DEDICATED TO THE GREAT TASK REMAINING BEFORE US—THAT FROM THESE HONORED DEAD WE TAKE INCREASED DEVOTION TO THAT CAUSE FOR WHICH THEY GAVE THEIR LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION THAT WE HERE HIGHLY RESOLVE THAT THESE DEAD SHALL NOT HAVE DIED IN VAIN—THAT THIS NATION UNDER GOD, SHALL HAVE A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM—AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH.

BEGINNING OF THE END• AFTER LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN• Mar. 1864, GRANT APPOINTED AS COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC

– SHERMAN APPOINTED COMMANDER OF THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND– GRANT THEN MADE SUPREME COMMANDER OF US ARMY– Gen. MEADE MADE FIELD COMMANDER OF ARMY OF THE POTOMAC– FINAL UNION PLAN– CAPTURE GEORGIA, PUSH NORTH INTO THE CAROLINAS AND VIRGINIA– PUT LEE IN BETWEEN TWO HUGE ARMIES WITH NO WHERE TO ESCAPE.

• GRANT’S OFFENSIVE AGAINST LEE JUNE 1864-April, 1865 “ON TO RICHMOND CAMPAIGN”– SHERMAN’S “MARCH TO THE SEA”

• MAY 1864 SEIGE OF ATLANTA

• ELECTION OF 1864– LINCOLN (Johnson) V. GEN. McCLELLAN– SHERMAN CAPTURES ATLANTA SEPT. 1– LINCOLN’S 2ND INAUGURAL ADDRESS

• MARCH TO SAVANNAH—TOTAL WAR• SHERMAN’S MARCH THROUGH SOUTH CAROLINA

• SEIGE OF PETERSBURG– TRENCH WARFARE—James Longstreet.– Pres. DAVIS EMANCIPATES THE SLAVES WHO WILL FIGHT FOR THE SOUTH– ALEXANDER STEPHENS ATTEMPTS PEACE NEGOTIATIONS--failed

• APPOMATTOX COURTHOUSE– APRIL 9, 1865 LEE SURRENDERS– TERMS– APRIL 12, LINCOLN VISITS RICHMONDLINCOLN ASSASSINATED APRIL 14, 1865

• April 26, 1865 Gen. Joseph Johnston surrendered to Gen. Sherman at Durham, NC. The war was over.

• May 1, 1865– Confederate government disbanded Abbeville, SC

• May 10, 1865– Jefferson Davis captured in Irwinville, Ga.

• May 13, 1865—Battle of Palmito Ranch (Texas) last battle of the war.

RESULTS OF THE WAR• WAR CRIMES COMMISSION CREATED.

– Gen. Henry Wirz—Commandant of the Andersonville POW Camp executed.

– Responsible for the executions of the Lincoln assassination conspirators.

• DEATH AND DESTRUCTION:• ADVANCEMENTS IN MEDICINE:

– SURGERY– USE OF ANESTHESIA (ETHER)– NURSING CARE– BATTLEFIELD HOSPITALS

• ADVANCEMENTS IN WARFARE:– TRENCH WARFARE– GATTLING GUN– SUBMARINE– IRON CLAD SHIPS– REPEATING CARBINES– GRENADES

• CIVIL WAR LAWS:– HOMESTEAD ACT– TRANSCONTINENTAL (PACIFIC) RAILWAYS ACT– MORRILL LAND GRANT ACT– FREEDMEN’S BUREAU ACT